The undead cult favorites creep through Springfield in October

Oct. 4, 2012

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Interview with a zombie: Interview with a zombie

Zombies in Springfield

Plenty of zombie events to send you screaming this month: • Expo event: Nathan Shelton, Ross Payton, Matt Decker and Diana Botsford, an assistant professor of screenwriting, will speak as part of the “Panel of the Living Dead,” 6-7 p.m. Saturday at the G.A.M.E., Gaming Arts Media Expo at the Springfield Expo Center, 635 St. Louis St. The Expo is noon-midnight today; 9 a.m.-midnight Saturday and 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday. Three-day pass admission: $25 online; $30 door. 417-827-1563; http://springfieldgame.com.

• A Monster Dash starts at 1 p.m. Saturday in Ritter Springs Park, 3683 W. Farm Road 92. The zombie-themed three-mile fun run features an obstacle course on trails. Participants will get three flags (representing three lives) to protect from zombies. All are entered into drawings; those who survive with at least one life (flag) are entered in the grand prize drawing that includes a $500 Kona bicycle. Entry fee: $30; register at active.com or visit http://getfi2.wix.com/monsterdash. All proceeds benefit the Kitchen Medical Clinic. Call 417-861-4515; email: Kurtandholli@yahoo.com.

Stiff, decayed corpses sporting rotting flesh, open wounds and oozing blood may be looking for you. Be prepared, the zombie apocalypse is nigh in Springfield — at least for October, anyway.

Plenty of undead action is in the works. Zombies will be crawling around Commercial Street Oct. 27 for a performance of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.” More mutants are looking for fresh meat at Saturday’s Monster Dash, a zombie-themed rain-or-shine fun run and obstacle course at Ritter Springs Park.

And we hear the Vandivort Center has a zombie infestation. See for yourself starting Oct. 12 at Springfield Contemporary Theatre’s production of “Night of the Living Dead: Un-dead on Stage!”

America seems to be culturally captivated with zombies via television, music, film and literature. The obsession came early for professional performing artist, writer and “Living Dead” director Nathan Shelton. At age 8, Shelton’s psyche was overtaken by zombies when he watched George Romero’s 1968 cult classic horror film, “Night of the Living Dead.”

“That movie changed my life,” Shelton said. “After I watched it, I had nightmares for three months solid. Zombies were killing my family. I was terrified by zombies. I was obsessed with them.”

If you can’t “beat ’em or burn ’em,” as a character says in the movie, you might as well join ’em. So out of fear or fixation, horror buff Shelton adopted the zombie classic as a model for his own approach to life, or death, or something in between.

“Night of the Living Dead: Un-dead on Stage,” which Shelton adapted from the movie, features multimedia video sequences, audience participation and outlandish special effects, said the director.

“There’s nothing quite like this show,” Shelton said. “It’s bizarre actually. It’s a horror-comedy because we thought it would be more fun on stage. We still have some scares, too, but it’s mostly a lot of humor.”

During the play-within-a-play, Vandivort audience members are part of the action as the live studio audience of a once-popular horror television show called “Frightmare Theatre.”

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And here’s the deal: It’s the final night for the movie show, which has been canceled. While the ghoulish host, Baron Vincent Von Rotten, is showcasing the film for the evening, a real zombie outbreak begins outside theater doors. Von Rotten and the audience must watch events of the film in a desperate attempt to find clues for survival.

“This is the most ambitious project we’ve done,” said Shelton, who shot all of the original video sequences in various locations around Springfield.

And what if a zombie apocalypse really did happen in Springfield? Where should you go — or avoid? We turned to the experts.

Local author Ross Payton knows zombies. He authored a book, “Zombies of the World: A Field Guide to the Undead.” The book covers all species of zombies and explains their value in our ecosystem.

Payton said the best place for zombies to find food would be Battlefield Mall, or downtown’s First Friday Art Walk, or perhaps at one of the hospitals because, “there’s a lot of people confined to beds at the hospital. It’s like a buffet for them.”

The safest place for zombies to hide from unhappy, vengeful humans? Underground drainage tunnels downtown.

“It’s best to go somewhere that people wouldn’t find you,” said Payton, offering a zombie perspective. “A couple of zombies could get shot, but the rest would hide and then overwhelm us in an attack.”

Shelton said that Maple Park Cemetery would be the best place for a horde of zombies to congregate. That’s because of the comfortable surroundings.

The worst place for the undead to hang: Bass Pro Shops, because too many people could find guns there.